Comments on: Who Are Australia’s Top Thinkers?

By: thiago

thiago — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 03:10:40 +0000

peter singer, he`s awesome

By: Club Troppo » Missing Link Daily

Club Troppo » Missing Link Daily — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:23:10 +0000

[...] Cameron Reilly is calling for opinions on the identities of Australia’s top thinkers.Â [...]

By: Cameron

Cameron — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 23:29:37 +0000

Sean, that’s a great story, and I think STEREO 974 general manager Rod Boyd the founder of Serving Time should be on the list also. Thanks for the links.

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:10:32 +0000

Paul Little, CEO of Toll. Specifically for his support of the Second Step program. A program where Toll hire recovering drug addicts and former criminals.

Check http://www.servingtime.org/ and http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s2197475.htm

-sean

By: martin english

martin english — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:45:41 +0000

Apologies for the rude comment about Cate Blanchette earlier today. To extend jjprojects 2nd point, the people you want won’t necessarily be a) be visible (too busy doing stuff to talk about themselves) or b) seen as Australian (because they’re not living / working here).

My selection criteria for three would have to include Scope and breadth of subject matter (so no Tim Flannery, sorry).

To ensure I look outside the usual ‘talking heads’ we see, I’d also ‘eliminate’ the usual suspects from the Arts, literature, politics from my list.

so my three:
Peter Singer
Richard Hames
and either Ross Gittins or John Quiggin

Quiggin is probably held in higher esteem by his peers, but Gittins is definitely more accessible.

By: Angus McDonald

Angus McDonald — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:45:00 +0000

I hate to say it, but … Rupert Murdoch has to be up there with anyone. He’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but he meets all your criteria.

By: Mick Liubinskas

Mick Liubinskas — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:21:46 +0000

Not sure if he’s still working away, but a 8 years back I heard Ian Lin talk and he gave a manifesto for Australia in 2010. It made some people laugh, but it was wonderfully ambitious and real for me. He called it Quo Vadis.

Here is the manifesto;
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3320958/Quo-Vadis-Australia

One thing I remember was that he said the Australian dollar could be $1.40 to the US dollar. We were at about $0.60 at that point, and many mocked him. (“Tis folly”)

Links:
http://www.celebrityspeakers.com.au/brspeaker_bio.asp?Speaker_Index_Text=153

http://www.quovadis.com.au/

By: jjprojects

jjprojects — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:20:34 +0000

Actually, it’s probably a lot easier to choose those who are visible in the media. I’m sure many of the best thinkers aren’t so well known to most.

By: jjprojects

jjprojects — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:17:23 +0000

I guess it depends on which field you are talking about: academic, political, artistic, diplomatic, scientific, business, media. So much scope there really.

For science, Gustav Nossal would have to be up there, but that’s no secret…

By: Cameron

Cameron — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:06:42 +0000

Fiz, why those?

By: Efisia

Efisia — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:39:04 +0000

In their own rights, I think David Gulpilil, Andrew Denton and Dr Karl. But especially David Gulpilil.

By: Gavin Heaton

Gavin Heaton — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:35:18 +0000

Tim Longhurst — http://www.timlonghurst.com